Dr. Meredith Jankowski
HI! I'm Meredith.
The short version of my story is that I wanted to be a doctor, a surgeon specifically, since childhood. Why? I have no idea! There are no medical folks in my family at all. I went to St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia and majored in Biology, but was very active in the arts; both in the studio and on the stage. After college I moved down the street to the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. It was there that I met some of my best friends and fell into a wonderfully supportive community. That's not to say those 4 years were all rainbows and butterflies, because they were not, but looking back they were mostly great! After medical school I did a rotating internship with a focus on surgery before heading out to Indiana to run an Occupational Health Clinic on the largest Navy base in the US. Yep... it's in Indiana. After a year I transitioned to Pensacola FL where I attended flight school and became a US Naval Flight Surgeon. At the end of my training I accepted a position as the flight surgeon for a Marine Corps Light Attack Helicopter Squadron out of Camp Pendleton in California. I drove cross country to my new home and then shipped out a month later for Afghanistan. I spent 8 months in the "sandbox" which were the best of times and the worst of times. I made lifelong friendships and found myself in the midst of a camaraderie I will never be able to replicate. Towards the end of the deployment we experienced a crash, which left me with PTSD, something that took a lot of hard work and determination to reign in and control. Thankfully, I was able to use my experience to help others accept, deal with, and move on from their previous trauma as I began to give talks throughout the country. After my time in the military I returned to a civilian general surgery residency, but ultimately decided this was no longer for me and I transitioned into urology. I spent the next few years in Detroit training at the Detroit Medical Center. When it was finally time to take the training wheels off and ride that bike on my own I took a job in south New Jersey with a wonderful group of humans. A little after a year after moving there I met my husband, the other half of ddM.
My intention in helping to start this new and exciting platform for students is to recreate the community that I have been so lucky to be a part of in so many aspects in my life- in medical school, in the military, and in residency. I'm not sure students training today are lucky enough to have those same experiences and form those tight knit relationships given the current climate of zoom education and remote learning. My hope for ddM is to provide the space for you to safely, and comfortably, share whatever is on your mind. You are not alone in your frustrations, your sadness, your excitement, your joy, and your accomplishments and failures. Marcin and I will be here for you, and so will your fellow ddMers! You will not only get through this, you will thrive and we want to help in any way we can!
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Respectfully,
Meredith P. Jankowski, DO, FACOS
"Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay more than your share." ~Ned Dolan